Sunday, 10 April 2016

5 Tips To Spring Clean Your Beauty Routine & Win £30 Boots Giftcard

As the days get longer and the weather improves, we all feel that little bit brighter and more inspired to take care of ourselves.

Hands up if your beauty routine needs a spruce up?

And there's no better time for a Spring clean of your beauty routine. My own routine is, I have to confess, quite haphazard and it needs to improve because, at almost 52, my skin definitely needs more love and care than it used to.But there are things everyone can quite easily do to make the most of your products, your time and your precious cash!Throw out all half-used products over a year oldBeauty experts would probably say throw them out a long time before that but when money's tight, we all tend to hoard our beauty products, don't we?Actually, most products have a little symbol on them which tells you when to throw it out.

Throw out after 12 months!

Throw out all those samples you've kept from magazines and will never useI have loads of these and I never get round to using them? If you have a teenage daughter, a fun thing to do is to save them up and put them in a toiletry / gift bag as a little present. Otherwise into the bin they go!Check your skin's conditionI still have products suitable for oily / spotty skin. Those days are long gone and lots of the oily skin products are much too harsh for dry, mature skin. Are you using products better suited to how your skin was five or even ten years ago?If you don't know what skin type you have, why not book in for a free skin consultation? Lots of the top brands will happily offer this service if you visit your local department store beauty hall or branch of Boots.Buy The Products Which Suit Your Skin TodayOnce you know what your skin type is, you can refresh your skincare products accordingly. You might want to try some of the new formulations - for example one of the new oil based products or an anti-ageing serum. These are on my wishlist.

L'Oreal Paris' New Age Perfect Golden Age Range - around £9.99 from Boots.com

These are designed for very mature skin so I am not sure if they will be a little too heavy but I'm still itching to try them.The products are enriched with Imperial Peony extract and Iris flower and the formula claims to help rehydrate the skin and restore its natural colour with a healthy rosy glow. There are also natural pink pigments to instantly improve the complexion.

L'Oreal claims that this serum, Revitalift Laser Renew will give you 'intense action' and target wrinkles, skin firmness and skin texture leaving it smoother, plumper and more even with visible results in 4 weeks. It isn't, of course, a laser treatment!It contains the 'wonder molecule' Pro-Xylane which has been proven in a 6 month study to reduce the appearance of crow's feet wrinkles, boost skin density and improve bounce. I can't find any reference to the study itself but I figure it's worth a try!

Micellar cleansing waters seem to be everywhere and I haven't tried them yet.

This one, from Garnier, claims to be a super efficient and gentle way to cleanse, remove makeup, soothe the feel of skin and hydrate in just one step.

It contains micelles which act like magnets, gently lifting away makeup and impurities from the skin, without the need to rub or rinse.

The formula is suitable for the face, eye area and lips, has no perfume and comes in a generous 400ml size.

If this one can get rid of a full face of make-up in a trice whilst I'm having to tiptoe around the bathroom without waking the kids up, I'll be a happy woman.

Do The Things You KNOW Will Help Your Skin
We know what we need to do, don't we? Most of the time life gets in the way and we just DON'T but we really owe it to ourselves to at least try.

I'm talking about:-

- drinking 2 litres of water a day
- getting 8 hours sleep a night
- getting at least 20 minutes sunshine each day to help our bodies make Vitamin D
- having at least 2 alcohol free days every week
- not mainlining on sugar, caffeine or unhealthy saturated fats.
- using a high factor sunscreen (not Factor 5 Hawaiian Tropic, although I will always love the smell...)

Whilst you're pondering how to improve your own skincare routine, why not enter the fab giveaway I am running with one of my favourite bloggers, Mellissa at www.thediaryofajewellerylover.co.uk?

We have a £30 Boots Giftcard to giveaway to one lucky winner.

Entry is via the Rafflecopter widget and the usual terms and conditions apply. UK entrants only and the giveaway ends at midnight on 8th May 2016.